City Council - Regular Meeting

Without my crew, I'm telling you. Call to order. Good evening. Welcome to the Laramie City Council work session for Tuesday, July 28, 2026. And before we begin our work session, I would like to ask, are there any public comment on non-agenda items? All righty, seeing none, we will move on to our first agenda item, City of Laramie Community Survey Results. Mr. Mullen, good evening.

Thank you, Mr. Mullen. Can I pause just a second? We had two community members who just walked in. You were a few minutes late. I want to make sure. Did you want to make any public comment on an agenda item? Okay. Reverend Palmer. Thank you.

All right. Now we'll continue with this portion of our work session.

She was at the coffee shop. We were there.

Council questions? I see none, Zach. Thank you.

If you can hold just, if you can hold one second. Mr. Mullen, you had a comment or question?

I appreciate that clarification Is that continue please?

Counselor Vigil, did you have a question?

Yeah, just maybe a comment and a question, if that's okay, Mayor.

Great. Thank you. Yes, thank you so much for this presentation. This is awesome. I think one of the things that I have been ruminating on, so before I got into City Council, before I ran a campaign, I would see Zen City ads on my social media. And one of the things that deterred me was kind of some of the stock photo images. And it was like, we want to see what you think about your community. And I was like, I don't like, I think one of the images might've been like a stock image of half acre on campus at one point. And so I, or something, I don't, yeah. And so I'm just wondering if maybe we c

Did you have anything further? Counselor V Hill?

Thank you, uh, Brennan. Did you have something?

Thank you. And Councillor Vigil, I think you bring up a good point. And it seems like everybody and his brother wants a survey anymore. If you even go to Walmart, you're gonna get a request for a survey. So I think something that personalizes and kind of draws you in over all the other demands that are made or requests. So thanks for bringing that point up. Zach, go ahead.

Okay. Zach, I have a question or comment from Councillor O'Doherty.

Thank you. And Vice Mayor, you have a question or a comment?

Thank you, Mayor. Just a question. If there is an opportunity when we see things like this that are like, you know, the previous question, is there opportunity to provide a follow-up question to describe, you know, if you said, you know, negative or positive, even if it's a multiple choice, like what would you... what would be the reason behind that, even if it's a broad or even them a space to answer that question to give us a little bit more insight. Again, I think kind of back to maybe what Councilor Freed had said earlier, we have these kind of top level questions and they're great, but to

said I have a question. When you're looking at quality of life in a specific community, are you able to then look at trending throughout the country where you know there's kind of a general concern nationwide about quality of life? Are you able to kind of compare an? Tease that out how. something in our community might be separate from a general concern nationwide about quality of life, affordability, etc.

Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, Zach, just real quick. So in terms of just streets and maintenance, I've seen a few studies just across multiple cities and it's a whole area in public administration as a field that a lot of people are usually not happy with road maintenance. So do you find this to be true in other communities as well?

Thank you. I have another question from Councillor O'Doherty. Oh this is more of a comment.

And I have a question, Zach, looking at access, the concept of access to quality post-education, access to quality K-12. Do you break down that concept? Because access can be affordability, it can be location, it can be any number of things. Is that the way the question's asked and then there's no breakdown about what that means?

Yeah, and I'm curious because the cost of post-secondary education has risen significantly and there have been significant changes statewide in K-12 education. So, you know, I start to look at this and I'm thinking how do we respond as a community unless we do start to break that down at some point. Thank you.

Especially if you think that we have three institutions of post-secondary education in a town of 32,000.

Thank you and I'm sorry if you said this earlier and I didn't catch it. But when was the last time we did the last right? This one went from April to July. What was the previous one?

OK, so overgrown lawns. OK, thanks. And now.

Councilor V Hill, you have a question and or comment.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. I kind of wonder about our, especially with the overgrown lawns or vegetation, we had a really unique winter, right? And so we didn't freeze very often. And I know just as a community gardener myself, like I got bugs early, it's been a whole thing. And so we've had a really unique summer as well. And so I wonder if maybe like, in terms of vegetation, overgrown lawns, et cetera, I think maybe just stuff kicked off earlier. I don't know. So I kind of wonder Zach, if maybe you have any thoughts into that in particular with other cities, because I know Colorado has had exper

And just another comment I'd like to make is that we are in the midst of a drought period and I've noticed in my neighborhood that is normally more manicured that people have been more conscientious about watering and lawns have been a little browner than usual. So I'm wondering about that. Councillor O'Doherty, you had a question or a comment?

Thank you, Mayor, and I apologize. I'm being super chatty tonight. And so, Zach, I'm going to be a pain in your butt again and just kind of ask, right? Like, so where does Laramie compare to other cities of similar size that Zen City serves, right? Like in terms of all of this, because I feel like one of our our council goals is to be transparent and to be like doing social media and to be putting you know things out to the public and so i know that's not a unique laramie problem but i just i guess i would wonder you know like where where where are other cities are at yeah so that is a great q

Yes, I have a question from Councilor Bolling.

Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Zach. I am sure that I asked this question during this presentation last year, but are you able to tell us what other cities are in the cohort that we're in?

Councillor free. I have a question from councillor freak or comment.

Thank you. Vice Mayor, you have a question or comment?

Thank you, Mayor. I have both. Thanks so much for all of this information. Kind of as a follow-up to the previous question, are you able to also track, for example, let's say there is a popular site on Facebook that shared the post or shared the survey. Are you able to track whether, like how many came from that post? Do you know what I mean?

That's great, thank you. Thank you. Then my second just comment on this is that I love seeing the information and the data. What I struggle with a little bit is the broadness of it because I just want to know then the next level of questioning like why? Why do you? Are you not happy with this? Why? What is it that you think you need? And I you know if there's an opportunity to drill down a little bit further, I think that will help us. be better prepared to work toward making positive change and improving things. So I love seeing the information, but that's the one part that I struggle with th

Thank you. Councilors, any further questions or comments? Zach, thank you very much. We appreciate the presentation and now I'm going to go to public comment on this agenda item. Is there any public comment on this agenda item? Mr. Glass, yes. And if you can state your full name for the record, please.

clarification sorry to interrupt you we can keep your time going but just to note on that um when they pointed out that the exclamation point is to note that that data is not necessarily accurate and that's on the highest income so just want to clarify that for people for the public record okay

Thank you, Mr. Glass. Any further public comment on this agenda item? Okay, seeing none, then we will move on. Thank you, Zach and David and our other person that was here. We appreciate your time and good evening to you. We're gonna move on to the next topic. Thank you. Thank you. Our next topic, Laramie City Volunteer Program Update and Mr. Mullen.

I don't even see Melanie. Councillor Vigil, do you have a question? How did you see?

Okay, great. Thank you, Mayor. Is it okay if I say a comment and a question?

great well brandon i i just want to say like i i am so proud of this program this is amazing you know i serve and and so does mayor cumby serves on our town gown association and i think that this is the perfect example of that right like working between institutions within organizations government to make something work and to do something really good for the community and so i'm really really really proud of you for that and leading that and i can tell just like in your presentation how passionate you are and that is like that's what the city needs and so i think you said earlier in the prese

Thank you and I just a brief comment. I really appreciate your forward thinking and your proactive approach of inclusivity. I think that's really helped the program get off the ground. I have a question at first to comment it's. It's so heartening to get this report tonight and to think about three years ago when. The vice mayor brought up snow angels in Denver. And because we were thinking about how to get help shoveling, which the concern came up from the disabilities council. And then Aaron and I got information about this and then you've really brought it forward. Now I noticed tonight tha

Well, thank you. And I just really appreciate how an idea three years ago has taken form and your leadership and tenacity has helped to contribute to that.

Thank you. And just for the public, the Snow Angel program is to help seniors, elderly and disabled individuals or someone who might be temporarily disabled to shovel snow during the winter. Thank you. Any further questions or comments? You've got another slide.

You're not wasting any time. This is why we're here.

Thank you very much, Brandon. I really appreciate the presentation. Is there any public comment on this agenda item? Yes, Mr. Glass.

Thank you, Mr. Glass. And just by the way, I would like to let you know that Town & Gown is actively working on trying to better manage that. So I appreciate your comments. Any other?

Vice Mayor? Sorry, Mr. Glass, if you could real quick come back up. I didn't catch all the dates you suggested.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Glass. Any further public comment? All right, we will move on now to our last work session, discussion of Laramie Dog Park. And I welcome Director Michael Bork. Good evening, Director Bork.

thank you uh counselor bowling thank you mayor thank you director um aragon's facilities um owned by uw what sort of uh agreement do we have with the with the university understanding that that's something that you know that we list as part of our you know city facilities

Thanks. Thank you, Mayor. First off, the comment. Thank you for all this information. Thanks for the nice dog pictures that made this way easier to look at than just a bunch of numbers. And then Councilor Bowling, thanks for spearheading kind of that part of the work session when I think a couple of us couldn't come to it, so. I appreciate that. I guess I have two questions. My first question would be the dog versus dog and dog versus people. Do we have stats on how common that is? I have a super... not friendly dog that I cannot take to the parks, and I know not to, right? But then my hybrid

And then follow up if I could. Follow up? A whole nother question, I guess. The maintenance part of it, do we have, and I haven't traveled to all the dog parts, do we have some that are like artificial grass or are they all grass to where the maintenance is? even more than like artificial grass would be.

Thank you and thank you director Bork for the information. I like this idea of getting citizen feedback in the master plan. That feels like a nice approach to it. I also at the same time like this the opportunity to support the grassroots effort. How might those folks who are wanting to get behind the grassroots effort to materialize something. What's the best route for them to kind of think about next steps with with you or I would assume with you to begin with and then you know move forward and share that with Council is that is that comes to fruition if they are all ready to go and have som

And I appreciate your thoughtful look at this. And one thing I've come to realize while being on council is that such as with the volunteer program over three years ago, we thought about it and it comes to fruition. It takes time. And I know that right now we're facing the challenges of catching up with maintenance with the rec center and parks and rec. and you even tonight discussed some of the maintenance issues in current parks that need to be taken care of. So I think that your idea of going into that next master plan schedule to me makes sense, but also the idea of getting that cohesive g

I'm just gonna plant the seed since you're talking about dogs and then maybe the study or budgets. The other thing that I've heard is people won't take their dogs on the greenbelt as much anymore because of the asphalt. So just to plant that seed there.

Thank you, Mayor. And just again, thank you, Director Bork. And to reiterate, like everyone else, I'm a dog lover and owner, not currently, and use our dog parks. And I'm in full support of us exploring the idea of another wonderful recreation place for every dog in the city and their human companions. But I appreciate that we also need to approach this from the perspective of what are the realistic logistics that happen inside of that for the city, for the maintenance staff, et cetera. and i think i don't know that there's anyone up here that is not in full support of you know can the uh comm

Is going to be thinking about that as he's convening with colleagues from around the country. You know, it can bring us back some more information. So thanks, we'll look forward to that update. Thanks, Mike.

Thank you. And thank you for that question. Any further questions or comments? Thank you, director. And now we'll go to public comment on this agenda item. Marav. And if you can state your name for the record, I won't ask for your full name.

Thank you. Further public comment on this agenda item? Yes, Peggy, and if you'll state your name for the record, please.

Thank you Peggy McCracken. Yes, ma'am. You and Peggy had your hands up almost at the same time. Welcome, if you can say your name.

Thank you very much, Michelle. I appreciate that. Okay, and then you'll be next.

Good evening. If you can state your name for the record.

Stephen, thank you so much. Further public comment? Sylvia. Good evening.

Thank you, Sylvia. Further comment? City Clerk? Okay, I have one person here that just raised her hand and then we'll go to Linda Devine. Good evening.

Thank you so much for your comment. Now we can go to Ms. Devine, please. Good evening, Linda. We can't quite hear you yet. Hold on. Speak again. Not yet. Hold on.

There, can you hear me now? Yes, we can hear you, Linda. Go ahead.

thank you linda is there any further public comment on this agenda item and thank you all for your time and engagement and being here it's been very informative uh to us i think i think generally uh there's support uh for this and um so um

So I just have a follow-up question based on the comment. I was out at Greenbelt running the other day and came back to water my dog as well. Can you give us an update on the status of that if there are plans to have that water? Because I know that the water fountains for humans are also not working. So if you could just give us a quick update, that'd be great.

Thank you for that update. Thank you for the update. And this concludes our work session. And thank you very much. And next we'll go on to council updates. Councillor Freed.

I was able to attend the Planning Commission last evening and they just had one subject and it was at the Cirrus Sky Park to a final plot for four new lots and then moving UL to another building, an existing building, and then moving Saffron to two other existing units, but expanding Cirrus Sky Park. That's about it.

Just an update that we have a meeting tomorrow. with a dinner.

Vice mayor. Thank you, Mayor. The DDA met. They did not have a quorum. The downtown plan is kind of coming together and getting ready for the public part of it, but we wanted to wait to kind of approve that until we can all come back together, and so we postponed any further discussion on that until we could all be there. Pilot Hill had a big celebration day to kick off The... the oh my gosh words the trailhead trailhead thank you the new facilities facilities huge huge turnout of people it was fantastic um something that I think we can be proud to have supported along the way um and then uh l

Thank you. And believe this or not, I've been in 10,000 meetings, but nothing official. So I did go to the Pilot Hill Trailhead grand opening. It was a fabulous occasion. And it was, I really received, as I shared with you all, a lot of very positive and encouraging comments from the people who were there about the work we do. We have LCBA coming up, Airport Board coming up. Other than that, Councilor O'Doherty, updates?

Thank you. Councillor Shumway. No updates. Okay. Councillor Vigil.

um but i just wanted to give a big shout out to um our larry main street for our farmers market i have gone the past two weeks and it's been amazing we have a lot of really great produce from a lot of different areas and it's been really fun i've gotten to try some of the new green beans they're like white and purple spotted and that's super fun and then i'd also like to thank the lds church I know that there's a huge semi-truck coming to Laramie here this week, and a lot of people will benefit in our Laramie community from that. So I would like to thank the church very much. Thanks.

Thank you, Mayor. If you think the produce at the farmers market is great, you should see the haul that Councillor Vigil pulled out of her own yard. A couple of things. We had two applications to Youth Council. They were both re-applications from participants last year and so the other counselors and I just approved those via email vote. I did attend beautification committee for Councillor Richardson. There was some reports on the community cleanup from Mr. Sandoval, some discussions about ongoing funding and fiscal agent, fiscal sponsor options now that the beautification committee is no long

Thank you very much. So, counselors, have you had a chance to look at the agenda? And are there any suggestions for, first of all, change to the consent agenda? Okay, seeing none. our regular agenda? Any comments or concerns? Too long. I will tell you that Chief Johnson told me the shorter the agenda, the longer counselor questions. Keep that in mind.

All righty. With no further ado, We are adjourned. Thank you, counselors, very much.